The Faded Remembrance project had to start in 2020, because the enormous desire for music and creation came to the surface, your hands stuck to the instruments. What made you such a fanatic?
Making music is an activity what if you start and are serious about it, you will do it, and it is impossible to stop. Anyone who has already picked up an instrument, but is not a musician, also holds the instrument with admiration (I remember the first time I was afraid not to drop the guitar – today I throw it in the air if I want to, haha), and those who musician, he practically goes into flow when he sees a high-quality, beautiful instrument. Many people give up quickly, because the beginnings are difficult, with little success, and it even takes years before someone reaches the right level – moreover, this learning time increases with age, and I experience this with my own eyes, as I see that my sixteen-year-old son what great strides he is making in learning the guitar. I started at the age of thirty-nine, I’m sure I wasn’t in a hurry.
I could say I always wanted to be a musician, but that wouldn’t be true. It is true that I sang in a high school band as a teenager, but I did completely different things as well in the meantime, I played sports competitively for almost twenty years, I wrote for more than a decade (and not without success) – and then I ended up in music. People with an artistic disposition are always looking for their way, and someone who is interested in many things and even has a talent for many things, sometimes finds what he really wants only later.
Fanaticism is caused by two things, on the one hand, the kind of personality I am (according to Chinese astrology, one of my animal signs is the horse, which is the most persistent of the signs), and the other is the goal that I formulated for myself back then, which was very high in comparison (at the time I thought at an almost unreachable distance), where I was standing at the time. I knew it would take a lot of time and energy to get this thing done at the right level and quality. I’m not saying that I didn’t have setbacks in the beginning, and my mood sometimes went away, but I pushed myself through these dead ends, and later all that remained was joy, the annoyances disappeared.
When did you get to know the different instruments and learn to use them? Is there some sort of order? Also, how did your voice develop? Overall, what was the most difficult?
First came the guitar, I managed to develop it to a suitable level in a year or two (I went to a local guitar teacher once a week for roughly half a year, who corrected my first technical mistakes (e.g. reducing string noise during play, hand position), then I learned in a self-taught way), then I bought a bass, it was a little easier since I already had basic knowledge of an instrument, it took about half a year, when I felt that I was not playing what I was playing at the given level I just know, but what I want, haha. After that came the synthesizer, which I used in its initial form very simply, it took some time before I reached the desired level here too, but the theoretical part of learning the guitar helped a lot in the logical understanding, as sometimes they even help explain the guitar sounds with the help of piano or keyboard instruments (visually useful for understanding).
It’s also no secret that I play the wind instruments with a synthesizer using midi sounds, where the biggest challenge was how to set up the instrument (attack, release, reverb, etc.) and the desired sound in such a way that I can make it sound the same as the original brass. I experimented with this for at least a year and a half, but the result speaks for itself – I say this because people who play the instrument themselves listened to the recordings and did not notice any difference. If it hadn’t been like that, I’d rather not use the brass section, because I don’t have enough years to learn these instruments professionally.
For the drums, I use midi sounds, the beats of which I produce myself, of course I had to learn the world of tempos, time signatures and beats, which also helped me a lot later in my guitar-based songwriting. Now, if I come up with a riff or a melody idea, the moment I play it, I know what its beat and approximate tempo is.
Singing was the easiest for me as it was the only tool I had in my hands that I had as a natural ability and had used in the past. The difficulty here was to find my old self and to sing consciously, I have trained myself in the past so that I can concentrate properly, that I can sing consistently during vocal recordings and, most importantly, that I consciously watch myself while singing and control that I play with the air coming out of my lungs through my throat. Of course, there is still room for improvement, but the direction is good.
All in all, it can be said that a person can think in a real composition if he can properly present all the parts he wants to hear, if this is not the case, then it will be evident in the music – especially if the recording is sufficiently clear and of high quality.
I first heard from you about the second album “Delusion of Silence”, but I don’t know anything about the first release. Can you tell me some information about it? What was that beginning like? Is it available digitally somewhere?
It was a bumpy start and not everything went the way I wanted, haha. During the recording of The Age Of Emptiness album (my YouTube channel is the only one where the five tracks are available), it was also a huge difficulty to be able to play to my metronome, and I had to record everything I thought was appropriate a lot of times (of course, I wouldn’t think of it as with my current knowledge). The mix and master became as the level of knowledge predestined, quite low quality.
Today, I wouldn’t spend ten times as much time recording such an album, and the result would be far better. However, even so, I received the first positive reviews from listeners in my life (you can still see one of the reviews in English under the track Forlorn Hope on YouTube – “You know the music gonna be good when it only has 3 views. Nice”), and that started the wave of motivation that I’m still riding on today – I was like, if even a few people listen and appreciate what I’m doing, then the huge amount of energy invested in it is not in vain. However, going back to the first album, I have to say a big thank you to myself at that time: I was able to make those mistakes and at the same time I made progress. If I didn’t know something, I looked it up, if something didn’t work out, I repeated it. And finally, Faded Remembrance made it past its infancy and reached its current level. There is still plenty of room for improvement, no question, but without the steppingstone, I wouldn’t be writing my thoughts to you now.
The music is mostly doom/death, which was mostly typical of My Dying Bride and Anathema bands active in the 90s with a gloomy, meditative atmosphere. In addition, there is a relatively unique thing, namely the role of the trumpet. In my opinion, it was very well integrated into the music. Why did you see the inclusion of this instrument as a good idea?
Eternal love is Anathema. The first albums of the bands listed coincided with the time when I was a teenager, so I grew up on them, I was greatly influenced by the early Paradise Lost and of course My Dying Bride, all fantastic, style-creating bands. I would also like to mention a little-known lineup that was together for a short time, which had a great influence on me when I was younger, and this is The Blood Divine, especially The Awaken album – which I recommend to everyone, if you can still find it somewhere (it’s usually still available on YouTube), a masterpiece.
Regarding the trumpet, I was always looking for what would be the plus that would make the music more colorful, the synthesizer was a given, but in this music, I could only imagine it as an undertone. As I have already described this several times, and it is also included in my introductory material, as I am also a big fan of Sear Bliss and I love how they incorporated the brass into their music, I decided to do this, I think it was a very good decision, it made the music unique. What had to be found and must be found in the future is that the trumpet (supported by the trombone) can assert itself by adding the expected extra to the music, without even suppressing it – and I found the answer on the Dying Age album, here they say compared to each other, the instruments are properly “panned” so they can live a separate life, yet they flow completely into the music. Of course, in addition to the position, it is important to use the volume correctly for each instrument, as well as not to “get stuck” in the sounds of the different instruments at certain frequencies, but those who have good hearing and take the time to learn how it works technically will learn this over time – although we know that music is also a subjective genre, it will not be the case that someone thinks that the vocals are not too loud and the bass is quiet, there is a lot of cin, the foot drum is not enough, etc… but that’s the way it is well.
I adjust the final mix and create the master the way I want to hear the end result and the technical level I am able to create – let’s say I follow subjectively formulated guidelines, but behind them there is a lot of research, reading and testing. And it’s not impossible to get the right sounds, it just seems a bit mystical until you get serious about it.
The second album “Delusion of Silence” was attention-grabbing material on the Hungarian underground level, but perhaps more than that. “The Metal Observer” magazine featured you in music dumping and appreciated your musical expertise. Did this knowledge strengthen you spiritually? How important is feedback to you?
In today’s world, as an unknown factor, especially at the underground level, it is very difficult to reach people, it requires a lot of background work, time, posting on social media and much more. The most difficult thing is to maintain the motivation when you know that you share the news in seventy or eighty international groups and get eight or ten likes, but you see that statistically hardly anyone listened to your music. If someone can overcome this and keep pushing the pedal, then, although there is no guarantee, sooner or later they will reach a level of recognition, no matter how small this level may be. Of course, a lot can be achieved with a very thick wallet, but these people are usually not part of the circle of one-man underground band projects, haha.
All I can say about Delusion Of Silence is that it was really a big step forward, both musically, in sound, and in terms of songwriting compared to the first album. Here, I did a lot more things consciously and few things out of instinct (except for riff and melody ideas, because those are just like that).
To be honest, it was also a big deal that Delusion was among the five selected records at The Metal Observer against the huge line-up, but it was more heart-warming the kind of reviews I got. Despite the still not perfect sound, the music of Faded Remembrance has been compared in several places to the big doom / death bands you have already listed, which is of course flattering and somewhat exaggerated at the same time, although if we abstract from the quality of the recording and focus only on the songwriting, it can even be true in a way.
In any case, I was happy that other people like the music, because it’s a good thing if someone has proper self-evaluation and self-criticism (unfortunately, many people don’t and then the slaps come…) but it’s different to say “what a good album I made” than to say by someone also who is not you, haha. However, I’m not hypocritical either, I felt that I had reached a level of songwriting that I shouldn’t be ashamed of even abroad. However, the chance that the people I sent the album to (publishers, webzines, magazines, etc… or I sent it to a hundred places that year) even open the letter out of hundreds or even thousands of others, read its content or listen to it, and even like it or fits into the genre, let’s face it, it’s very small.
So even if the music is good, you need a bit of luck, of course you must work hard. In any case, as I already mentioned in another interview, feedback should be treated appropriately, constructive criticism should be paid attention to (I myself have thought about more than one of these over the years and changed things many times), explicitly offensive ones should not be dealt with, if they are not based on facts, and good ones must also be treated in their place – who says why, for what purpose, is it in his interest, etc… I have not come across one like this on social media. Personally, I was able to deal with any positive criticism I received in its place, because due to my personality, fortunately, I can’t get away from myself very much, but of course I like them as well as everyone else. It would be difficult to continue without them, as it is not material interests that play a role here, but self-expression.
Then you quickly started to continue, and we got the new album “Dying Age” on December 6th! Are these completely new songs, or were they left over from an earlier collection and that’s why you got them done so quickly? What did you do differently this time?
I created completely new songs, maybe one or two songs had a couple of riffs that I already had in my head, but it was insignificant. Because of that, it was finished quickly because the experience of the two older albums made the recording significantly shorter, and by now I have reached the desired level regarding all the instruments used, and it also took much less time to create the sound.
Fortunately, there is no shortage of ideas, even though the fourth album, which is already in the process of being made, has been/will be dominated by new ideas. For the brass melodies, I used to think a lot about whether one or two ideas were good, I changed them several times, but now, the melodies come out of my head almost by themselves, I can already hear during the guitar recording what the trumpet and trombone will play for the given part – among the new tracks, there were almost none where the brass section had to be chewed on. The same is true for the melodic guitar parts, I have a lot of strumming and melodic ideas, in addition to the upcoming album, I have about fifteen or twenty ideas in my pocket, the vast majority of which I will use later.
And usually, a good acoustic part brings along the riffs (or vice versa), so the songwriting is quite fluid. I can also see better when a song requires changing, slowing down, speeding up, a transition part with or without drums – so in summary, all development leads to a person using his knowledge and instincts faster, but still more consciously. The recording process for me is as follows: first the drums and guitar are recorded (acoustic parts and distorted guitars), then the synthesizer backing parts, trombone and trumpet, the bass guitar (this way I can really see that I can support the other instruments, but also in which parts the bass can “solo, live a separate life” – because I consider good bass playing very important in music), finally comes the vocals, and then the follow-up work.
Fortunately, this is now available in CD format with the support of a small French label, Bitume Prods. I think it was a good decision and it will help me on further trips. How did you convince each other? Why does the decision seem good to you?
I am very grateful to Bitume Prods, they listened to the material and liked it, which they immediately informed me about, and after that it was not difficult for us to agree on the details. This joint work is a big step forward in the life of the project, whether we can still work together in the future, or whether life takes Faded Remembrance in a different direction. Since Dying Age just came out, and as I wrote, the new album is in progress, we haven’t talked about continuing with Bitume Prods, now we’re doing the promotional work for the new album, divided from both sides according to our strategy. I hope that with this step, the music can reach even more people and the name Faded Remembrance will be known in even more places.
Who would you most recommend your new work “Dying Age” to?
In my opinion, the 90s is still the greatest decade in metal music, bands started or reached their peak that still inspire today’s bands and listeners. My big son, without me pushing him, mostly listens to metal music released in the 90’s and early 2000’s, and then he is really the generation that wasn’t even alive when this music came out, even so, he sees the value in this, he likes them. So this style is timeless for some reason, and even if its star is sacrificed from time to time, because it has value and feelings, people will always go back to them for inspiration, or just to listen to the songs again and feel what they have to say, and they also represent a high level musically. I recommend the Dying Age album to those who like varied, heavy sounding, yet melodic music, with lots of transitions and serious, meaningful lyrics, supported by other instruments.
I think that the desire to play music has taken hold and you will play the guitars for a very long time, maybe the momentum will increase more and more. How do you see how many albums you accumulate during your life 🙂 ?
Very good question, I don’t really think in numbers. As long as I have something to say and it wants to come out of me, I will create. I haven’t set myself the goal of releasing an album every year or two, that will become clear. In addition, at the same time, I don’t want to neglect Embertears, although I haven’t yet reached a level where a label has noticed it, but this is certainly not because of the quality of the music, since the second album released in October already received a lot of good reviews and analysis. Embertears is faster music built on sludge / progressive / stoner elements, which started because a lot of my ideas didn’t fit in Faded Remembrance’s style, and because I also love this style, especially because of the fast riffs and technical solutions – as a guitarist, in this style I can perhaps fulfill myself better and polish and develop my instrumental skills combined with songwriting. Since both projects are children of love, I don’t want to put either of them in the background, I have something to say there too, it is true that there are concept albums born on a specific theme, the latest album “Red Chapter” takes the listener into the history of the biblical Book of Revelation, and the first album “The Flood” (2022) tells the story of the biblical Flood.
Do you think you might have another kind of project in the works, or could you ever be in a band?
I do not rule out that I will go in other directions, I have ideas, but for now I will not start another parallel project. My time is limited anyway, my work also takes up a lot of my time, I would rather spend the remaining time with other recreation and with my family. That’s why I’m not even thinking about joining a band, because it wouldn’t be possible to maintain it with such intensity, and that’s why it’s not worth getting involved in this life situation. Of course, I don’t know what will happen in ten years, maybe we’ll come back to it when the children are grown up, haha.
A lot of people think what bands you were into when you were young, but can you tell us some of your favorite childhood albums? At that time, did you ever fantasize about becoming a musician and creating something similar?
In my first band, I was entrusted with the role of frontman, although this is not surprising in the case of singers, he takes the lead, his range of motion is not as limited as that of the other musicians. Then I thought that I might become a singer, according to other people I have a personal radiance, I easily find my way to others, so it is a natural gift. However, I was also busy with so many other things at the time (especially in the field of sports) that I didn’t have time to learn an instrument, and I didn’t have many examples in this regard anyway.
However, rock and metal have been a part of my life since I was about ten years old, an eternal love that lasts until the grave. The first music I listened to seriously was Iron Maiden, I got everything that was released until 1988 on cassette. After that came Metallica, also the And Justice For All… album, which had a great impact on me, mainly because of its complexity and sound, later I listened to Master Of Puppets, which is also a metal masterpiece, unfortunately the second part of the oeuvre has become more forgettable – in my opinion.
At the beginning of the 90s, other directions took hold of me, I was a big Rage Against The Machine fan, but at the same time I met the trio Anathema / Paradise Lost / My Dying Bride, and as you can see, I listened to metal on a very wide musical palette. Then came Sepultura and Pantera, and then I met Cradle Of Filth and Sear Bliss, and later Red Fang and Mastodon had a great influence on me, maybe I wouldn’t even be able to single out a single album of these bands, because it’s almost each is a masterpiece in its own right. Maybe I would also list Type O’ Negative’s album “October Rust”, which gave me new strength and hope in many sad moments, but I love System Of A Down and I also had a Korn period. So, the main thing is to have good music, I don’t really care about the genre.
Where can you buy Faded Remembrance publications in Hungary? What is currently available? How much do you want to expand the offer? I’m thinking about merch and other stuff here!
For now, the CD can only and exclusively be purchased on the Bitume Prods Bandcamp page, to be honest, I’m not thinking about merch at the moment, because on the one hand, there is no demand for it at the moment, and to be honest, I don’t even want to deal with the financial side of the project, I’m not doing it for that, no this was and will never be a goal. My civilian job is well paid at the Hungarian level, and I’m not the type who always wants more of everything. I’m happy with what I have. For example, I don’t have a very expensive guitar, only a very good one, and the elements of my own small studio are also furnished with the best possible value for money – of course, they were chosen after a lot of research. So, I prefer to concentrate on music, but of course I do not rule out opening in other directions in the future.
Thanks for the answers!
Thanks for the great questions and the interview opportunity, welcome to all readers and metal fans! I wish perseverance and creative energy for bands and solo projects that are just starting out, and that they don’t give up on their dreams!
https://www.artistecard.com/fadedremembrance
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100065207422428
https://www.instagram.com/fadedremembrance
https://fadedremembrance.bandcamp.com